By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The High Court in Pretoria has heard that accused number two in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, Bongani Ntanzi, was not on duty on the day the former soccer star was killed.
This was revealed by Sibanye Gold’s HR manager, Hendrik Mulder, in court on Tuesday.
Mulder told the court that Ntanzi’s last day of work was on 25 October 2014, when he left the mine’s premises just before 7am.
“Ntanzi left the hostel at 6:57 am on 25 October 2014. According to my observation, there is no clocking on 26, 27,28, 29,30, 31 Oct or 1 November.”
But Advocate Sipho Ramosepele, who represents Ntanzi, argued that the accused was not at work on that particular day because he did not work on Sundays.
“Regarding his absence on Sunday, 26 October 2014, my instruction is that according to his contract, he did not work on Sundays thus, there is no reason for him to clock in. What is your comment?” asked Ramosepele.
“That is correct,” responded Mulder.
Mulder’s testimony further revealed that Ntanzi was on unpaid leave for the five days he was not on duty.
“Ntanzi applied for unpaid leave for this period. His supervisor and the HR approved his leave for this period. His leave of absence was approved for those five consecutive days,” Mulder told the court.
Witnesses in the Meyiwa trial have identified Ntanzi as one of two intruders who came into the Khumalo house on the day the former Bafana Bafana captain was killed.
Zandile Khumalo and Tumelo Madlala identified Ntanzi from the dock.
Witness Skhumbuzo Zungu, who has linked all five accused to the Meyiwa murder scene, also testified in court that the identikit of one of the intruders who came into the Khumalo house resembled Ntanzi.
Mulder is set to return to the stand on Wednesday to conclude his testimony.
Meanwhile the DNA evidence has failed to link the five men accused of Senzo Meyiwa’s murder to the crime scene.
Forensic analyst Phineas Masetla yesterday confirmed that no DNA from suspects Mthokoziseni Maphisa, Sifisokuhle Nkani Ntuli and Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya was found in all the places swabbed by the police at Khumalo’s home in Volsoorus where, Meyiwa, was shot and killed.
The DNA of the five accused was also excluded from the swabs taken inside the house.
Asked about the factors that could contribute to the absence of the DNA of the suspects, Masetla said: “For me, it will be common knowledge to say if your DNA is not found on the scene, for me now, using my common knowledge, I would say you didn’t touch anything on the scene, of which I wouldn’t want to go too much into that.”
On whether the absence of DNA in one of the samples influences the overall results of the evidence, Masetla said: “It influences the interpretation of the results in terms of saying that you will not be able to read a person on that particular sample because you are not reading him fully in all the DNA, that’s where the influence is.
In our case, we include and exclude, and in some instances where we don’t include you in one residue, we’ll say ‘no conclusion’. If we’re not including you in one region, we’ll write it as ‘no conclusion’.”
The former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper was fatally shot by what the state alleges were armed intruders at the Vosloorus family home of his then-girlfriend, singerKelly Khumalo on 26 October 2014.
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